I was so envious of my friends who knew exactly what they wanted to do when they were TWELVE.  It took me much longer to find my passion...or at least I thought it did.  Actually my passion was there all along, but I just didn't notice!   Most of the things I wanted to be were "pooh-poohed"  by my family as I grew up.  It's easy to quash a kids dreams in a fear-based family.  I wanted to be a zoologist and work with dolphin.  Then I wanted to be a horse vet.  Well, first I wanted to be a jockey but got too tall! 

 Since I was a mediocre student that didn't care much for school, my dad said "you'll have to go to school for 8 years to do anything like that, are you sure you really want to do that?"  Encouraging, thanks Dad!  The only other thing I did as a kid, and I did this religiously...I listened to the radio.  All the time.  No matter the time of day!   My dad had given me an AM transistor radio when I was 8 (ya know with the one earplug), and I'd take that to bed with me at night and listen to far away stations in other states...it was magical!  He himself was a Ham Operator so his passion was radio for sure.  Thanks Dad, for real!

So I go to nursing school. Hate it.  Want to go into Radio/TV/Film at UGA but Dad says "no, you'll never get a job, that market is so saturated."  Defiantly I said I would do it anyway.  He says "Fine.  But I'm not paying for it."  Again, thanks Dad.  I was too wussy to work AND go to school!  So I become a nurse here at St.Joe's and West Paces Ferry, but found on the job training at a radio station in Alabama.  Drove back and forth most every weekend for air shifts that paid 1.88 an hour! Seriously.  I didn't care...I was getting closer to my dream job of being a disc jockey (can't ever grow too tall for THAT kind of jockeying!).  I kept using a book title as my mantra:  "DO WHAT YOU LOVE, THE MONEY WILL FOLLOW."   

After two years of working parttime as a nurse, and living off credit cards with no benefits, I was finally hired fulltime here at WSB !  I had to laugh when one day I heard my dad bragging that one of his daughters worked on the radio!  Thanks Dad!

So if you're having a hard time finding your passion, check out this article for some tips:

http://zenhabits.net/the-short-but-powerful-guide-to-finding-your-passion/

And don't "pooh-pooh" anything that comes to your heart or mind.  Just follow it!  xoxo